Despite the uncertain date of the long-awaited election, political parties have intensified their poll campaigns, offering tempting policies to attract voters. A quick look at the campaign pledges of the competing parties suggests they want to turn Thailand into a welfare state. That would be a tough task.

A changing diet in past decades has seen Thai people grow accustomed to consuming too much sugar and salt, negatively impacting their health. This has led to more cases of non-communicable diseases (NCD), heart problems, high-blood pressure and diabetes in state hospitals, which is placing a heavy burden on government spending.

As the election is drawing near, most if not all political parties are making eradicating poverty and closing the economic gap their flagship policy, rolling out enticing populist programmes in the hope of winning the hearts and minds of voters.

The new package intended for the poor, valued at 38 billion baht issued by the Prayut Chan-o-cha administration ahead of the election, is seen by critics as a populist tactic aimed at maximising political gain. Yet in my opinion, it's time we took a new look or changed our attitude toward populist policies. The fact is that all governments, elected or not, tend to embrace populism and even though some packages may not benefit the middle class, populist policies are just inevitable.